The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

How about cold rice pudding, straight from the can?

I'm not admitting ANYTHING...

 

I prefer macaroni.

 

A spoonful of warm Tapioca...

 

Well, I leave that sensation to your imagination, but for some reason, I am reminded of the Bill/Monica interface.

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

How about cold rice pudding, straight from the can?

I'm not admitting ANYTHING...

 

All I can say is yuck.  Ever since I was forced to eat school rice pudding by a sadistic housemaster I cannot stand the stuff. 

 

Jamie

[rockershovel]

I see renationalisation of the railways is back on the agenda. 

 

I can't say I'm surprised. The current structure leaves a great deal to be desired and it only requires the existing contracts to be allowed to expire. 

 

The present government will have to take some sort of action in the foreseeable future, why not that? 

[Happy Hippo]

4 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

I see renationalisation of the railways is back on the agenda. 

 

I can't say I'm surprised. The current structure leaves a great deal to be desired and it only requires the existing contracts to be allowed to expire. 

 

The present government will have to take some sort of action in the foreseeable future, why not that? 

The leaders of the rail industry should be sent to Japan in order to understand how to run a modern, efficient rail system. Union leaders also need to go as well so they can understand the level of service their members should be giving rail users.

[Northmoor]

2 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

I see renationalisation of the railways is back on the agenda. 

 

I can't say I'm surprised. The current structure leaves a great deal to be desired and it only requires the existing contracts to be allowed to expire. 

 

The present government will have to take some sort of action in the foreseeable future, why not that? 

They still won't own any of the rolling stock though.  It would cost many £Bn to buy it all from the banks and to achieve what?  The same trains will continue run on the same routes, so you've spent a lot of money just to change the name on some ownership documents; .  

[jjb1970]

I am worried about Mrs JJB. I keep going into restaurants and ordering food in my usual way 'my dear fellow, we can dispense with the menu, bring me a plate of your finest sausage, bacon, egg and chips' only to be met with blank stares. Mrs JJB, who claims to understand the local lingo here in Indonesia (no, I've never heard of it either) then says something incomprehensible which I presume is administering a stern rebuke for their failure only for dishes to appear involving rice, noodles and other barbaric concoctions. I clearly need to bring her to her senses.

[jjb1970]

6 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

The leaders of the rail industry should be sent to Japan in order to understand how to run a modern, efficient rail system. Union leaders also need to go as well so they can understand the level of service their members should be giving rail users.

 

Oh if only...... I  suspect DfT live in fear that people might visit Japan and realise that contrary to conventional wisdom it is indeed possible to operate a railway which is spotlessly clean, reliable and provides superb customer service. While they're at it they could stop off in China for a few tips on building high speed railways 

[jjb1970]

Unfortunately,  being DfT they're more likely to go on a fact finding trip to Germany and pick up a few tips on how to make things worse.

[SM42]

The ROSCOs are the elephant on the room when it cones to nationalisation of the railways. 

 

Without control of the rolling stock there is no hope of ever reducing costs.

 

Perhaps the way round it is the government to start either buying or building their own, slowly pushing the ROSCOs out, or forcing them to reduce rates at least. 

 

Never going to happen. 

 

As far as the unions and management go, years of them and us is now ingrained into industrial relations so any change will be viewed with suspicious by the unions. 

The result has been a more indignamtly reactive workforce and a more belligerent management.

 

Not a good combo in any industry.

 

Contrary to popular belief and right wing propaganda, the unions do not call strikes. They ask the members if they are prepared to go on strike over an issue as a last resort. 

 

The fact that the members are prepared to lose income over a dispute should be a sign to management that they need to look again at things. But all we get is a war of attriton. 

 

Either side looks to break the other. 

 

If they did go to Japan the may see a different culture where government, industry and unions work together rather than against each other. 

 

Oh and we need the DfT to butt out and leave running the railways who people who might know a thing ot two about it

 

Andy

Edited July 7 by SM42

[Happy Hippo]

Today the weather in Reading is, let us say, some what variable.

 

It is either lovely and sunny, or the rain is coming down in stair rods.

 

I am observing the construction of a Lego dinosaur.  My main thought process is planning a 7mm ng line.

[SM42]

It's been an interesting afternoon so far. 

 

This morning Mrs SM42 said she'd seen a car she might like to buy at a local dealership. 

Thus we arranged to meet there after she came back from church and shopping at lunchtime. 

 

A salesman was duly engaged and we went out on a test drive. 

 

Part way through and in tbe middle of asking some questions about the car, it became apparent that no answers were forthcoming. 

 

I asked a bit louder, nothing.

 

I looked at our salesman

 

He was asleep. 

 

Or was he?

 

I was thinking about stopping and calling an ambulance, but decided to try and get a response one more time. 

 

This time I did, but he did seem a bit out of it for a few seconds.  

 

He quickly perked up and assured us he was fine. 

 

I'm just glad we were driving and  not him. 

 

Andy

Edited July 7 by SM42

[polybear]

"What does Sir think of the car?"

 

"Well it's not exactly what you'd call exciting, is it??"

[iL Dottore]

7 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

I feel her pain. 

 

Twist and lift is definitely not a good idea but so easily done without a thought. 

 

Some years ago we had a short break in Pisa ( not pizza as some of my fellow British travellers called it when buying a bus ticket).  

 

Our hotel was about 20 mins walk from the wonky tower and restuarants  were the usual jack the price up near the tourist spot fare. 

 

Just round the corner from our hotel, we found a back street pizza place. 

 

Two tables outside  barely clear of the road and two bench tables and benches inside that you could just about squeeze  in to sit. 

 

The pizza was excellent, as was the calzone, the entertainment during dinner was watching pizzas and a mountain of pizza boxes being made for the endless procession of scooter riders to deliver 

 

Fantastic atmosphere,  fantastic, reasonably priced food and very friendly but busy staff. 

 

We went back 4 nights out of the five we were there. 

 

Andy

Each to his own, of course, but the very last thing I’d want to eat in Italy is pizza. Not because you can’t get very good pizza there (you certainly can), but because there’s so much more interesting (and - dare I say - better) food than pizza in Italy. Plus the very, very best Italian food is local, so whilst you can get a decent pizza in Pisa, it won’t be a patch on the pizza you get in Naples - pizza’s original and spiritual home.

 

Typical Pisan dishes include Pallette - a soft polenta served with a pork and beef ragú; Tagliata al mucco pisano - basically steak from a cross bred cow only found around Pisa. Grilled over charcoal and sliced thickly. For pudding there’s Castagnaccio, a flat cake made with chestnut flour, rosemary, raisins and pine nuts - it’s often served with a sweet ricotta and to while away you time over coffee there is Cantuccini col Vin Santo - Vin Santo (“Saintly Wine” or [possibly] the “Wine of Saints”, Cantuccini are very crisp rusk like biscuits with raisins, almonds and pine nuts. The method of eating them is to dip the Cantuccini into the Vin Santo before eating, but BEWARE you can get “rat-ars3d” very, very quickly with that combo.

 

To finish it is always, but always an espresso (either caffeinated or decaffeinated)* And if you are still vertical after a bottle or two of Toscana Colli Pisani and about half a bottle of Vin Santo (you’ll be surprised how much Vin Santo the average Cantuccio can suck up) a local grappa would round off the evening nicely.

 

Of course, the upside to the many tourists demanding just pizza, lasagna and gelato is that there’s lots of the real good stuff left for I cognoscenti!

 

* asking for a cappuccino after midday will mark you out, now and forevermore, as a “straniero ignorante”

[petethemole]

SWMBO is currently in Reading at a music session. She just rang me to say the weather was awful and would I close the window in the conservatory....in Southampton.  We are actually having heavy showers but what wind there is is south-westerly  and said window is on the east side, closest to the north wall of the house.  I shut it anyway.

[iL Dottore]

7 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

One supposes that whatever our Swiss correspondent retched up wouldn't be classed as ultra processed would it.

Of course not!
Artisanal emesis, nothing but the best from iD!

[SM42]

6 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Each to his own, of course, but the very last thing I’d want to eat in Italy is pizza. Not because you can’t get very good pizza there (you certainly can), but because there’s so much more interesting (and - dare I say - better) food than pizza in Italy. Plus the very, very best Italian food is local, so whilst you can get a decent pizza in Pisa, it won’t be a patch on the pizza you get in Naples - pizza’s original and spiritual home.

 

Typical Pisan dishes include Pallette - a soft polenta served with a pork and beef ragú; Tagliata al mucco pisano - basically steak from a cross bred cow only found around Pisa. Grilled over charcoal and sliced thickly. For pudding there’s Castagnaccio, a flat cake made with chestnut flour, rosemary, raisins and pine nuts - it’s often served with a sweet ricotta and to while away you time over coffee there is Cantuccini col Vin Santo - Vin Santo (“Saintly Wine” or [possibly] the “Wine of Saints”, Cantuccini are very crisp rusk like biscuits with raisins, almonds and pine nuts. The method of eating them is to dip the Cantuccini into the Vin Santo before eating, but BEWARE you can get “rat-ars3d” very, very quickly with that combo.

 

To finish it is always, but always an espresso (either caffeinated or decaffeinated)* And if you are still vertical after a bottle or two of Toscana Colli Pisani and about half a bottle of Vin Santo (you’ll be surprised how much Vin Santo the average Cantuccio can suck up) a local grappa would round off the evening nicely.

 

Of course, the upside to the many tourists demanding just pizza, lasagna and gelato is that there’s lots of the real good stuff left for I cognoscenti!

 

* asking for a cappuccino after midday will mark you out, now and forevermore, as a “straniero ignorante”

 

Quite, but being a tourist ignorant of such local dining experiences and being not so keen on paying way over the odds in the other establishments round about, we found somewhere by chance that had a good atmosphere and tasty, fairly priced  food. 

Limited yes, but we liked it. 

 

It was bad enough the taxi driver trying to stiff us over the fare to the airport.

We agreed a price beforehand and on arrival he wanted to add 50% more because we had hand luggage. 

 

He threatened to call the police. We offered to do it for him.

 

There was a general waving of arms and some heated Italian  words and he drove off. 

 

We did eat in a restaurant in the town of Empoli, I forget exactly what we ate that day  but it was the one day we gave pizza derivatives a miss 

 

Again, off the beaten track, a friendly host and good food at a fair price.

 

Much as I would like to visit Italy again some day, I am wary about being done over for being a tourist with limited skill in the local langage. 

 

I appreciate that this is not endemic but it makes me think twice as it's the only country so far where I have experienced this.

 

 

Andy

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The leaders of the rail industry should be sent to Japan in order to understand how to run a modern, efficient rail system. Union leaders also need to go as well so they can understand the level of service their members should be giving rail users.

And what’s particularly galling is that the Japanese railways are entirely privatised (although the Government owns a lot of stock) and have been privatised since the 1980s. So from before when the UK privatised its railways.

 

Of course, there were some important differences to the privatisation of the railways in the UK

• Each newly formed JR company got everything railway in its assigned area: from track, to MPDs, to signalling, to rolling stock to stations and to the land owned around the tracks (as you can imagine the real estate holdings of each JR Company are nice little earners).
• There are a number of so-called “third sector” railways (some incredibly tiny) that feed into the JR Lines. Whilst CoVID sounded the death-knell for some of these these tiny railways, many become the focal point of tiny communities with a lot of local volunteers supporting the railway.
• Management-Worker relationships and dynamics are VERY different in dynamics than in the UK - making for a much, much better passenger experience.
• Unlike the UK’s DfT - where “cheap as chips” seems to be the guiding principle and the 1980s is considered dangerously modern, the relevant Japanese ministry and all the various railway companies are always striving to invest in order to “future proof” their railways, day-after-day.

Unfortunately there is a teeny tiny problem with looking to Japan for inspiration and that is how the Japanese regard and take care of shared public spaces. Basically it’s a matter of “it belongs to everyone, therefore it also belongs to me and if it belongs to me, I must take care of it”  Which is why 99.99999% of any rubbish floating around (say) Tokyo stations will have come from inconsiderate foreigners.

 

One of the great ironies is that the Japanese Railways are not at all hesitant in expressing their admiration for how GB started railways and how the British helped the Japanese start their railway systems, but they are far too polite and diplomatic to freely state their opinion on the current state of UKs railways.

[rockershovel]

The railways were privatised by the Conservatives, in a blind panic lest they be voted out before they could perform this last round of wrecking and asset-stripping (which might well have happened; the were the lamest of ducks by then, with no workable majority and a clearly defined end date rushing towards them)

 

If they had an actual plan, I have no idea what it might have been. 

 

It's easy to bemoan the state of British industrial relations,but look at the damage done to employment rights, training and wages in the last thirty years....

 

 

[SM42]

Part of the problem with rail privatisation in the UK is that IIRC it was in part a political decision. 

 

The separation of track and train concept was a hard sell by the UK to the EU, eventually Europe accepted the concept, but unlike the UK, European countries didn't necessarily conclude state bad, private good. 

 

With the EU adopting the model, the UK government could rest easy knowing any blame for a failure could be  deflected onto the EU

 

The Major government also with one eye on the political future and possibly either seeing the writing on the electoral wall or to ensure that investors had more than 3 years or so to make a return,  devised a scheme so complex, that to undo it would be prohibitively expensive for any incoming Labour government to even countenance. 

 

The result was to separate the track from the train, the train from the operator and the maintenance from both. 

 

In other words; a right old complicated mess to ensure plenty of noses, in plenty of troughs for plenty of years.

 

The only thing a Labour government did manage was to nationalise Railtrack, but that needed some political skulduggery and a couple of disasters as a catalyst.

 

Andy

Edited July 7 by SM42

[Northmoor]

26 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

• Each newly formed JR company got everything railway in its assigned area: from track, to MPDs, to signalling, to rolling stock to stations and to the land owned around the tracks (as you can imagine the real estate holdings of each JR Company are nice little earners).

Those around in the mid-1990s when UK railways were privatised may remember that Railtrack's real estate was by far the most attractive aspect of the company for investors.  It wasn't because it gave them a long-term income stream (no, that would be a far too Japanese way of thinking) it was because they could sell off a vast proportion of it and return the cash to shareholders in the first five years.  Railtrack was - as stated pretty explicitly by its CEO at the time - was a property company, not an infrastructure company.

 

It is no good assuming that an organisation will be run like a Japanese one if the investors/shareholders are British/American ones.

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, SM42 said:

The ROSCOs are the elephant on the room when it cones to nationalisation of the railways. 

 

Without control of the rolling stock there is no hope of ever reducing costs.

 

Perhaps the way round it is the government to start either buying or building their own, slowly pushing the ROSCOs out, or forcing them to reduce rates at least. 

 

Never going to happen. 

 

As far as the unions and management go, years of them and us is now ingrained into industrial relations so any change will be viewed with suspicious by the unions. 

The result has been a more indignamtly reactive workforce and a more belligerent management.

 

Not a good combo in any industry.

 

Contrary to popular belief and right wing propaganda, the unions do not call strikes. They ask the members if they are prepared to go on strike over an issue as a last resort. 

 

The fact that the members are prepared to lose income over a dispute should be a sign to management that they need to look again at things. But all we get is a war of attriton. 

 

Either side looks to break the other. 

 

 

As to ROSCOs, I think that's a matter of "you have to start somewhere"

 

As to strikes, I had my fill of them in my dealings with the NCB. There was a climate of constant agitation, together with coercion and intimidation of the less enthusiastic. 

 

The NUM fought constantly to drive out contractors of any description. Anyone with a history of working for a contractor need NOT apply.... 

 

The 1984-5 strike was called through a manipulation of procedure; the NUM were well aware that they could not get the national majority which their rules required. 

 

There was also the "show of hands" favoured by agitators in the car industry, in particular. Car assembly workers worked with heavy moving machinery, often on piecework or to quotas; it would take a braver man than me to stand up to that sort of pressure 

[rockershovel]

10 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

Those around in the mid-1990s when UK railways were privatised may remember that Railtrack's real estate was by far the most attractive aspect of the company for investors.  It wasn't because it gave them a long-term income stream (no, that would be a far too Japanese way of thinking) it was because they could sell off a vast proportion of it and return the cash to shareholders in the first five years.  Railtrack was - as stated pretty explicitly by its CEO at the time - was a property company, not an infrastructure company.

 

It is no good assuming that an organisation will be run like a Japanese one if the investors/shareholders are British/American ones.

A typical 1990s decision, in short. Looting the accumulated wealth of the past 150 years was in favour; a questionable decision regarding legal ownership opener the doors to the destruction of the Mutual Building Societies 

 

How do local authorities now regard the "creative accounting" of sale and lease-back, with the cash long spent and the bills still rolling in? 

Edited July 7 by rockershovel

[New Haven Neil]

19 hours ago, Northmoor said:

I am seriously considering coming to the island for (at least part of) next year's TT* so I'd be grateful if you'd share the location.  Of course by next year they might have dropped that burger and replaced it with something (to me) inedible.

 

*Before one of the big TV networks gets an exclusive coverage deal and ruins it.

 

 

Of course!  The White Tiger, Parliament Street, Ramsey.  (The Bright Lights).  On the right as you go from the square down towards the sea, second block down.  They have been open about two years I suppose, the same folk used to have a fusion restaurant (Chingan's) in Ramsey but have closed it due to staffing difficulties - can't get any.  The White Tiger is small and very busy! The cheeky bhaji tikka burger has been on the menu since they opened, there are all sorts of yummy things they do.  Slow service as it is all cooked fresh.

[New Haven Neil]

20 hours ago, Northmoor said:

 

*Before one of the big TV networks gets an exclusive coverage deal and ruins it.

 

Already happened - one of the C4 spin-offs. The schedule is now racing every day except Monday, gives no recovery time, and spoiled the side show events as they are usually on Sunday and Tuesday.  Things like the sprint were not as well attended due to this.  Govt (ours) reports how great it is, everyone you speak to racers included, hates it.  As PBear says, 'S'terds'.

[SM42]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

As to ROSCOs, I think that's a matter of "you have to start somewhere"

 

As to strikes, I had my fill of them in my dealings with the NCB. There was a climate of constant agitation, together with coercion and intimidation of the less enthusiastic. 

 

The NUM fought constantly to drive out contractors of any description. Anyone with a history of working for a contractor need NOT apply.... 

 

The 1984-5 strike was called through a manipulation of procedure; the NUM were well aware that they could not get the national majority which their rules required. 

 

There was also the "show of hands" favoured by agitators in the car industry, in particular. Car assembly workers worked with heavy moving machinery, often on piecework or to quotas; it would take a braver man than me to stand up to that sort of pressure 

 

This goes back to the them and us problem. 

 

Any dispute is dressed up as akin to an attack on the employee. 

 

You are either for us or against us. 

 

In a more collaborative world, compromise for the greater good is possible. 

 

In the UK the problem with industrial relations  is probably rooted in the industrial revolution and has spread to those parts of the world that used to be pink, or would be if they were painting pink back then. 

 

I was a union rep once, and having a collaborative approach rather than the adversarial some of those who came after me had, seemed to get things done. 

Granted only on a local level, but nevertheless grievances were soon overcome to the general satisfaction, if sometimes reluctantly, to all. 

 

My experience in calling on regional office for help left me a little disillusioned. 

 

I found out unions have the same adversarial industrial  relations issues with their employees too. 

 

 

Ironic really

 

As to the car industry, run out of parts to build the next batch? Don't want to pay people to stand idle?

 

Sack someone  cause a strike, save on the pay bill  reinstate them when you are ready, dispute over.

 

The Union gets the kudos, you save money, the workers suffer. 

 

The NUM in the 80s, was more a political dispute in my opinion and was engineered by the Thatcher administration precisely to sell the idea of legal reform to the public and Scargill walked into the trap set.

 

The scenes that played out and the animosity that followed are perfect examples of where them and us gets you. 

 

Nowhere fast. 

 

The legacy of that dispute is still with us, and I don't mean the early demise of the coal industry.  

 

What we have is the ongoing demonisation of the trade union movement that all stems from those TV pictures we saw in the mid 80s ( Kay Burley"s interview with Mick Lynch last year being a perfect example)  and the ongoing adversarial industrial  relations that dog British society. 

 

Andy

Edited July 7 by SM42